“These people [victims] shouldn’t be discounted,” he says. “These are high-harm crimes. And it’s impossible to imagine, from my perspective, how those people are feeling with that kind of service.” Criminals pretended to be from the legitimate private bank Kleinwort Hambros, convincing victims to transfer money to them using branded documents and names of real employees at the bank. Janet was in recovery from a stroke when she was targeted. While her loss was smaller than most victims, with the highest having been £465,000, she says the impact was more than just financial. “The money was my mum and dad’s and I just felt I let them down. I know it may sound silly, but, I just thought that was it.” It was the largest amount of money she’d ever had, following the sale of her mother’s bungalow after her death. “I had sleepless nights thinking about it. It was always on my mind.”
